Joining forces with a recruiter is one of the smartest moves a mining jobseeker can make. Here are 5 reasons why.
It can feel like a strange process, applying for jobs in an industry experiencing a skills shortage.
When mates tell you how short-staffed the team is on their site, and when the news is filled with stories of mining companies looking for qualified workers, we can get lulled into this sense that once we start applying for jobs and companies realise we’re available, there’ll soon be a bidding war for our labour.
Well, if you’re lucky, maybe there will be. There probably won’t be, though. Securing a good, well-paid job in the mining industry still takes energy and effort.
That’s why it helps to have someone right there alongside you, helping connect you to the perfect job opportunities, the best potential employers, and the right people. That’s why so many candidates for mining jobs approach recruitment companies.
MPI’s Mining Engineering Consultant Emma Lewin — who holds a master’s degree in human resource management — said joining forces with a professional recruiter was actually one of the smartest moves any jobseeker could make.
Here’s her list of the clear advantages she’s seen jobseekers get from establishing a good relationship with a recruiter.
Finding a job isn’t a cold transaction
If you want cash, you go to an ATM, put in your PIN, tell the machine how much money you want, and — provided you have the funds in your account — the machine gives it to you. It’s a cold transaction. You have a simple demand which the machine is designed to fulfil efficiently.
Finding a job is NOT like getting money out of an ATM. You don’t just want a job, you want a good job. Yes, you want a job that will give you money, but — unlike going to an ATM — it’s not just about the cash.
Perhaps you want a job with career progression opportunities. Maybe you need flexible working practices, or want an employer who prioritises work-life balance. Maybe you’re looking for a challenge and want to work on a certain kind of project, or in a certain kind of role.
“One of the greatest benefits of building a sincere relationship with a recruiter is that it is not a transactional experience,” Emma said. “You’re not just firing off an application through a website or to an anonymous email address and getting an automated ‘thank you for your application’ email in reply.
“You’re establishing a real human connection. You can talk to your recruiter about your wants, hopes and dreams. Then it’s their job to set you on the path to achieving them.
“In a world that is so vastly becoming automated in many areas and devoid of authentic human interaction, I think many jobseekers find talking to someone who is generally interested in them and in helping them find the right job and find happiness in the next step of their career, really, really refreshing and welcome.”
Recruiters are well connected to industry
Emma points out that recruiters aren’t just building relationships with candidates, but with companies, recruiters, HR departments and managers across the industry, too. It’s part of their job to be well-connected people.
“We put a lot of time into building those long-term relationships and partnerships because it’s really our job, as independent mining industry recruitment professionals, to support those company HR departments and professionals so they can do their job better. They often turn to us for that support when they’re looking for scarce skills or talent. It’s our job to make their job easier.
“If we know what they’re looking for, if we can identify the best talent, and if we can introduce the two, then that’s a win for absolutely everybody involved.”
For mining job candidates, a well-connected recruiter can mean finding out about the perfect job, well before that job is publicly advertised. (If the recruiter does their job well, that job may never actually go on to be advertised.)
A specialist recruiter understands you and your talents
To be successful in connecting the right people to the right jobs in the right companies, recruiters need a deep understanding of the skills and talents involved in the sorts of position they’re filling.
“The best consultants know the mining industry inside out and keep abreast of all the industry’s talent requirements,” Emma said. “That’s critical to their role. A lot of jobseekers find it very reassuring to know the recruiter they’re working with truly understands their skills experience — and perhaps even has those same skills and experience themselves, if they’ve had a career in the mining industry before moving into recruitment.
Recruiters save you a lot of heavy lifting
Looking for a job can be a real drudgery. Getting up every morning, opening your job search apps and web pages, scouring the listings, writing a covering letter, tweaking your CV, sending it off, waiting to hear back. It can be exhausting and dispiriting.
“Having a recruiter on your side saves you a lot of the stress of searching every day,” Emma said. “Obviously, if you’ve teamed up with a recruiter, you’re still welcome to do your own job search. Many people do. But the advantage of having that relationship with a recruiter is they will come to you with jobs that match your search criteria — and often those jobs haven’t even been advertised yet.
“Then, if you’re interested, they can put your name directly forward for the job on the back of that conversation. All the heavy lifting is done for you, in that sense.”
But the relationship doesn’t stop with putting in an application or securing an interview.
“The recruiter will help look after your interview arrangements, follow up on feedback afterwards, and will even help you arrange your contract and help you negotiate better terms, if required,” Emma said.
A recruiter is invested in you and your long-term future
Your recruiter is an independent voice. You can use them as a sounding board for your ideas, thoughts, hopes and dreams. They’re someone you can talk to and ask for advice.
“Often, I find jobseekers coming to me with questions about external job offers, or advice they need, perhaps around things like salary benchmarking,” Emma said. “That’s because they feel comfortable coming to me with those questions, because we’ve really built a relationship and rapport — even in situations where I ultimately wasn’t the person who helped them get their current job.”
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